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Lune Patisserie is one of those places in Melbourne that you just have to experience to understand the hype. It is all about bringing the taste of France (Paris) to Melbourne in the form of delicious tasting pastries and croissants.

Lune wants you to have that unmistakable Parisian experience of catching the scent of butter wafting down the sheet and following your nose only to find an unassuming hole-in-the wall bakery, where you will be served by the baker and you will experience what it is like to eat a croissant that was pulled from the oven no longer than one hour ago.

Located in Elwood (near the intersection of Scott and Tennyson Streets), Lune resides in a quaint double storey house, where owner and baker connoisseur Kate Reid – a former aeronautical engineer who worked as an Aerodynamicist for Formula One – resides as well, together with her business partner / brother Cam. Reid was inspired by a visit to Paris where she visited the famous Du Pain et des Idess and their delectable pastries and was inspired to pursue her love and passion for baking. Reid’s journey is wildly interesting – she began as a sales assistant at Phillipa’s Bakery before moving onto Three Bags Full where she was a pastry chef. As great as these jobs were, Reid had a longing for Paris and took a chance in emailing Du Pain et des Idess and asking them to take her on as an apprentice – which they agreed on. And the rest as they say was history! Reid worked under some of the best pastry chefs in Paris, including Christophe Vasseur who was awarded the Best Baker in Paris by Gourmet magazine in 2008 and Baker of the Year 2012 by respected restaurant guide Pudlo Guide – learning all there is to know about Parisian style patisserie. Reid then moved back to Melbourne where she is renowned for some of the best croissants in Melbourne with lines of people waiting to devour these goodies being a testament.

The croissant is understood to be one of the hardest pastries to master – requiring three days of preparation and four different types of machinery. The key factor is the butter used to make the croissant – you should be able to smell the butter before you bite into – creating a rich buttery goodness. The freshness is yet another key factor – and should generally be eaten within two to three hours of being baked. Another important aspect is that a croissant should be light and flaky – Reid says that after eating a croissant you should have a lap full of flakes!

Croissants take three days to make, with resting between each process to help the dough develop complexity of the flavouring. Reid follows a recipe she learnt from Du Pain et des Idess, which she adapts for Australian flour and milk, and to suit herself. On day one, the dough is mixed and rested for an hour before an 18-hour period of slow fermentation at a cool temperature.
On day two, she flattens the dough and laminates the butter into it, a process called beurrage, which takes up to five hours each day. The butter is folded through the dough and rolled out to create up to 27 layers. Between each fold and roll the dough must be allowed to rest or the gluten will overdevelop and ruin the flavour.
On day three, for the final rollout, the pastry is pressed to a thickness of about four millimetres, cut, and shaped. Once it’s at this stage, you must work quickly to get the croissants into the prover. Then, they are egg-washed and baked at 4am, and so the day begins again.

On this Saturday morning – my friend and I decided to meet at Lune at 6:30am (which meant I had to be up by 5:45am!!). We both however overslept and I ended up getting there around 10 to 7. As I drove past Lune in search of a car park – I could see the line was at least 20 deep already! Once you arrive at Lune, the process is to line up for a ticket number (they only give out 60 tickets per day), and order a coffee; if you wish – and at that time of the day my guess is that you would definitely be in need for one.
The staff are super friendly, perky and chatty (especially since they would have been up even earlier than me!). I receive ticket number #29 along with the menu, and am asked which pastries I would be interested in. Reid’s brother – Cam – explains that the special flavoured pastries such as the Snickers Croissant (there were 10 available), Coconut Pandan Croissant, Tiramisu Cruffin (only 18 were made) have limited quantities. Whilst you receive your ticket number, you also have the opportunity to order a coffee (much needed especially given the time that some people arrive here!) and head on down to line up in the queue.

Lune officially opens its doors at 8am which gives you quite some time (depending on how early you arrive) to peruse the menu and decide which six pastries you want to take home – if you want to take home six (the average amount that people usually buy is four).

Once the blinds come up and Lune is open for business – you can hear the anticipation from people towards the back of the line as they wonder if they will get their first choice selections.

1 x Twice Baked – Available weekends only – Traditionally in France left over croissants are sold the following day, filled with an almond frangipane and baked for a second time. At Lune we offer the traditional Almond Croissant, as well as special twice baked Croissants.
Almond: The original Croissant aux Amande, prepared with almond frangipane & garnished with a healthy amount of almonds. Coconut Pandan & Snickers were the two other flavours available.

The plain croissants are just divine – flaky, crunchy, soft and buttery – everything that you want out of a croissant that makes you come back for more. The Choc-Almond croissant has a crunchier texture in comparison to the plain croissant and I love the almond flavour that comes through, together with the hint of orange. I am not usually a fan of the orange flavouring in pastries or cakes, however I took quite a liking to how it is infused here at Lune.

The Kouign Amann is not as soft and flaky as a croissant, and it reminded me of something that I used to eat when I was younger – Butterfly Pastry. The sugar coating on the outside gives it the strong crunch, together with the buttery pastry layers that follow in a swirl shape that creates the interior of the pastry which gives a simple yet delicious flavouring. I got both the original and the cinnamon flavour – with the cinnamon Kouign Amann have a delicately strong cinnamon flavour to it. Yum!

The Cruffin would have to be my favourite out of all the pastries – if I had to pick. I had the Jam & Cream Cruffin and I swear this is something that you would get in heaven! The Cruffin comes looking like a muffin (of course!) but has the make-up of a croissant – the soft buttery layers – and topped with cream (in the case of the Jam & Cream flavour). The Jam had been carefully distributed in all the right places in the cruffin and together with the buttery soft layers and cream was delightful. If I was you I would definitely try out a cruffin – in whatever flavour is on offer as I am sure they would be all as good as each other!

People are constantly asking both Cam and Kate why they don’t just make more of the product – and their answer is always the same – they do not want to compromise on quality. Quality is always the key – and it really is a testament to the lines that are always present on the three days that they are open.
However, recently a window of opportunity has opened, and they are have a new partner in the form of Nathan Toleman, who owns The Kettle Black and Top Paddock and co-founded a string of cafes including Liar Liar, Three Bags Full and Two Birds One Stone. The Lune team are looking at sites on the north side of the city that will allow them to expand their production without sacrificing quality. So stay tuned – but in the meantime I would highly recommend you go down to Elwood and try these delicious pastries – trust me they are well worth the early wake up call!